Health Secretary thanks frontline staff.
Health Secretary met frontline A&E
staff at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley today to
see first-hand how services are coping with peak winter demand.
Mr Matheson thanked teams for their ongoing efforts and met RAH
staff working to keep the flow of patients moving through the
hospital to help reduce pressures building up in the emergency
department, and avoid people being delayed in hospital longer
than necessary.
With hospitals across the country remaining extremely busy, Mr
Matheson thanked the public for continuing to do their part to
help ease pressure on A&E by considering if their condition
is an emergency before attending.
Mr Matheson said:
“Our health and care services are now dealing with peak winter
demand. There is no doubt the situation remains very challenging
so I am extremely grateful to all our highly skilled and
committed NHS and social care staff for their continued hard work
and dedication.
“The public have really played their part so far, by considering
whether their condition is an emergency before going to A&E.
To help relieve pressure on services it’s vital everyone
continues to do that. Local GPs and pharmacies can be contacted
during the day for non-critical care, NHS 24 is also available on
111 for non-emergencies, and the NHS Inform website is an
invaluable resource. However, let me be clear - urgent care will
always be available for those who need it. If someone needs
emergency care they should call 999 or go straight to A&E.
“The NHS 24 service dealt with significant demand over Christmas
and New Year and, although very challenging, the system handled
the large volume of calls very well. which was down to all those
involved in the implementation of months of pre-winter planning,
which started in spring, to ensure services were available to
those in need. I am especially grateful to those across health
and social care who sacrificed their time and worked over the
bank holidays.”